Get the IVs ready

“Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun.” Add Giants Defensive Linemen. Better have lots of those IVs ready at halftime. Will they be lucky enough to make it that far? These are the games where you love to have ALL of your linemen for rotation. For the Giants to be w/o two of them is nothing short of cruel… for the others that are left. This is where I get to segue to one of my favorite NFL video shorts, the one about Fran Tarkenton. When you get to the clip with Deacon Jones, you’ll understand. Merlin Olsen’s remarks weren’t bad either.

Back to this Sunday’s game, the Giants DL has my condolences. If they thought it was hot at the Palace in Dallas, wait’ll they get to Raymond James. Forecast- 89 degrees and a 40% chance of precipitation/scattered thunderstorms. Rain never sounded so good.

2) Garafolo is not sure how serious a shoulder injury is with Mario Manningham.

3) All injury issues aside, is there anyone in their right mind who could think that Hixon should be ahead of Manningham on the depth chart?

On Monday Russ drew extra attention to a comment by Raymond Sultan: “I think that making (Hixon) a kick return specialist and, for a while at least, only a situational receiver might actually really boost his confidence and get him back to a place where he’s a serious every-game difference-maker for the team.”Russ: “Brilliant! Sometimes we find our niche (like Joba Chamberlain when he was a reliever) and we don’t even know it. Time to resurrect the big-play Dominick.”

That is a really nice observation, Raymond. Simple and powerful. Hixon’s track record already shows him to be brittle anyway, so keep his plays down and he can come in and make some plays off the bench. And FOR GOODNESS SAKE, GET HIM BACK THERE RETURNING KICKOFFS PLEEEEEEZE! I do not know what was more insane, the Miami dive on 3rd down or (the emperor not having any clothes and) not having Hixon on kickoff duty. Frightening. Absolutely frightening.

4) Want a rookie LBer? Maualuga and former USC teammate Cushing have 4 starts, 30 tackles, a sack and 2 forced fumbles between them. Good thing these guys are only rookies.

5) They have these Weekly Power Ratings and they are mostly as useful as toilet paper. This week is no exception. Having the Ravens as the #1 team after beating two AFC West teams is a joke. Yes, beating the Chargers in SD is respectable, but let’s face it, it is Norv Turner. And Norv Turner is the same retread loser (think: Wade Phillips) we saw in other hotspots like Washington and Oakland. He is 78-96-1 in his career. My apologies in advance to Charger fans and Ravens fans, but there has to be more to it than that. The fact that they can have the Giants #2 is another joke. Not at the Giants or at #2, but the whole exercise is flawed because there are too few data points to even know enough about the team. I would classify many of the commenters on this site as extremely knowledgeable about this team and all of us would to a man agree that there are still so many issues and variables that remain to be settled before we can anoint this team. Health? Defense? Gilbride? Red zone? Short yardage? SHERIDAN? Special teams on kickoffs? To see the Giants even ranked is a joke- it should be “I,” as in INCOMPLETE. To be determined. Needs more games. Right now you could put the Giants #1 or put them #10 and I could make arguments for either. Which is why this Weekly ranking system this early is … toilet paper.

6) Nobody asked me, but I’ll tell you anyway.. the two teams at this moment who are impressive are the Saints and Jets. Brees has the same potent offense with a little more defense. And the Jets have given up spit on defense this year. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Those two teams (and of course the Giants, to name just three) have the raw material to be contenders down the stretch. There is so much football to be played, let’s try to figure out who is even DRESSING this weekend! G-I-L-F!

7) Toni Monkovic of The Fifth Down asks for ideas or solutions for freezing of kickers with a few seconds left. Leave it alone, it serves one good purpose.. it is very good at identifying the loser head coaches who are desperate enough to be grasping at straws.

20 Responses to “Get the IVs ready”

7) Toni Monkovic of The Fifth Down asks for ideas or solutions for freezing of kickers with a few seconds left. Leave it alone, it serves one good purpose.. it is very good at identifying the loser head coaches who are desperate enough to be grasping at straws.

Football genius and now stand up comic. Is there no end to your talents? LOL that was very funny.

BTW. I work down here in FL. I'm a little north and on the other coast from Tampa but it has been very very humid here. If it stays like this it will be brutal Sunday.

Here are my thoughts on Osi and why he is good, not great. When the guy on the other side is not doubled (Tuck, Stray) he doesn't have an impact. He can beat one on one sometimes with his speed. He either has a monster game sack wise if it's a guy that can't handle speed but he just can't beat a double team and if you can't do that, your not great.

I thought Hixon looked very weak in two passes that were thrown to him inside the 20 early in Sunday's game. In both cases he was between the incoming ball & the CB,and the CB outmuscled him to break up the play.A more aggressive WR would have moved toward the ball to secure it or positioned his body better.

When Nicks comes back. I believe he will become the physical receiver we are looking for. Super Mario & Nicks will become the X & Y receivers, and Steve Smith will handle the slot. I believe that is our best combination of talent.

When Barden & Beckum convince the coaches that they are ready, I'm sure they will be in the Red Zone packages along with Boss. Maybe those three can become a new version of the "Killer Bees"

Hixon, Hagen & Moss are there for depth and special team contributions. I still can't believe Sinorice Moss is on this team. He has got to start contributing.

This is looking like another week where the Offense will need to attack, attack, attack. The D is so banged up and the D line will be a weak link.

I would imagine that Tampa will give Smith and Manningham a little more attention this week as they have earned it. This should allow some room for Jacobs and Bradshaw but I am leaning toward Bradshaw having a bigger game, but that of course, depends on you know who using him effectively. For all you Bradshawlics this should be a coming out party.

Hopefully, Coughlin will be feeling the pressure on the red zone futility and realizes his season will rest upon getting this straightened out. His neck is on the line with Gilbrown and he better have the guts to go man up against his unwaivering loyalty to Gilbrown. Stats don't lie and hints coming from his starting QB can't be ignored. They better spread it out, use Boss, Beckham, use screens to Bradshaw and be 4 for 4 TDs inside the 20.

injuries continue to be a concern, not sure who will play, but the nyg will definitely be impacted negatively. we are lucky to have time between now and philly.

manningham over hixon as starting wr: even if you thought this was a wash at wr, putting hixon as ko and punt return would be a huge boost, and make our special return teams scary.

weekly power ratings are opinion and only a snap shot at a particular time. of course, week 2 doesn't have much data, but they also factor in previous performance which is why the giants are so high. why make a big deal about this.

osi is very quick and a good pass rusher, but he seems to get half his sacks for the season in a couple of games and disappear in several games too. he has gotten better against the run. i still am happy to have him on the team.

i hate the last second timeout by coaches on kickers. it's bush league and makes the nfl look dumb, petty, and unprofessional. they should not allow it w/ x<5 seconds on the play clock. it would be like calling a timeout on a free throw just as the player is shooting. sorry, that's too late.

SS Kenny Phillips was not on the practice field Thursday morning, and an internet report says he may be lost for the season.

ProFootballTalk, citing a league source, says the Giants are contemplating playing the rest of the season without Phillips if he needs surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee.

The Giants are taking that "We'll see" attitude but a tryout player who looks very much like a safety got out of a limo in front of the Timex Performance Center a little while ago.

Among the safeties recently cut is Aaron Rouse, a surprising release by the Green Bay Packers earlier this week. Steve Cargile, who was with the Giants during the off-season but released just prior to training camp, also was cut this week by Sunday's opponent, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Phillips did not practice Wednesday after picking off a pair of passes in Sunday night's win over Dallas. He has been bothered by the knee problem since training camp and the Giants said it would be a "managing thing" all season with him.

If the "managing" part continues, Phillips probably will stay on the roster for awhile. Surgery, however, probably would doom him to IR.

The Giants have two rookie free agent safeties, Sha'reff Rashad and Vince Anderson, on their practice squad.

"When Barden & Beckum convince the coaches that they are ready, I'm sure they will be in the Red Zone packages along with Boss."

Except that I don't think it's a matter of Barden and Beckum being ready or not (by observation, one would assume Boss isn't either!). Rather, I believe it's a depressing combination of timidity, stubbornness and a lack of creativity. Just feels like that as I watch….

Let’s be realistic, we have not had a really good safety for most of the time I have been following the Gmen and we did just fine so what’s the big deal now? Been there done that with chumps for safeties. Don’t get me wrong, I love Phillips but I think we can live without.DL gets healthy and Killdrive gets hit bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes some sort of super genius OC and we are all set.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE PHILLIPS. He was a monster even hurt Sunday but safety has never been a strength for us in the past and I believe we can get by without. Something will come up. It not like we need a new LT, DE, QB, C or CB. Those we can't do without. Safety, not so much. More of a luxury than a necessity.

believe me, losing phillips is huge; now safety is a terribly weak position. this is exactly why i emphatically wanted another safety drafted in the top 3 rounds. coupled with ross and dockery, and we are in serious trouble in the secondary. eventually, cb should be ok, but safety will never recover. this injury could be the difference between winning the super bowl and not.

reese certainly will earn his $$ handling this. we are fortunate in that our coaching is able to handle putting in unknowns and have them perform well [ie johnson]. these other players will have to prove to me otherwise. i don't feel very upbeat at this moment.

This is a "HUGE" loss. Phillips was a budding star. I believe this was going to be his breakout season. I remember going up to training camp last year and I was gushing at how he went about his business. Football is a game of attrition and adjustments and we will have to do that now. This injury will hurt down the road…believe me!

Aaron Rouse?…the book on him is that Green Bay cut him because he was way too inconsistent and frankly, just not that good.

The last good safety we drafted was Shaun Williams. He'd be 34 by now….no, no I'm not suggesting anything like that. I'm merely saying we will miss Phillips. They are talking the dreaded micro-fracture surgery, so this can be career threatening….you just don't know. Fred Robbins seems to have recovered..so good luck Kenny, get well and hopefully you will prove me correct next season.

When I read the words 'Arthritic' immediately this means long term. You can't get over arthritis as there is no cure and it's just a matter of dealing with the pain. Rock has a quick take from an Ortho on this:

One thing about this organization they take care of their players, if not their loyal fans (re: PSLs). This is quite the opposite of a fellow NY burrough team the Metropolitans.

We all praise Reese almost to the degree that he is cultish and unblemished. There are 3 units that I can make an argument that could be devastated by injury before the season: OL, Safety and LB. The O line is still my biggest concern in terms of depth, the safety position is now our biggest but we have always been dying for speed at LB. Can we really rely on CC Brown, Johnson (whom I thought had a horrible game against Dallas) and a guy who was cut by Green Bay because he was slow and out of position?

If he is banking it on the D line they better heal quickly and stay healthy!